Sunday, 23 August 2015

I love the colours and the texture of the next blanket, #170, murky with browns, greys, mauves and muted blues. The only brighter irregular yarn is the shawl yarn from #167 that I felt inclined to add. There is some angora yarn to add a hazy soft feel. The texture looks good too and I think it is because all the yarn are of a similar weight, with few thicker or thinner. I would like all my blankets to end up in these colours - there is a long way to go (ie a lot of brighter yarns to be knitted) before I get there.

I unravelled this lovely cardigan. It is nicely knitted with front and sleeve cables and shiny gold buttons. I can't work out what fibre it is. It is heavy and slinky and nice. I thought silk or silk blend or perhaps bamboo. It was very easy to unravel. In the end I decided the colour was wrong for this blanket, so it will end up in one with more brighter greens.

Sunday, 16 August 2015

I have looked with interest at sari silk yarn, and even found two hanks in charity shops. So I could not resist buying this wrap when I saw it. The changes in colour make it obvious that it is knitted from several hanks. It is knitted in garter stitch with regular rows of dropped stitches. I thought that the loose ends of yarn were due to inadequate fastening, but when I unravelled it the yarn fell apart by itself, so it was not sufficiently tightly plied. I liked working with it - it has a very nice feel. So I unravelled it and washed the yarn. The washing made it cleaner but had no other effect.

I didn't think that there was enough yarn for a throw even, so I looked round for something else to add. I had already bought this top, a navy Vera Moda top in a chunky cotton ramie blend. I bought it because of the interesting construction, six hexagons with ribbed neckline and hemlines. It didn't fit well, because of the way the sleeve hexagons had been joined there was a lot of bulk around the upper arms. I approved of the way the hexagons had been joined using knitting, but I had not noticed that they had been knitted flat and that there was a seam.

Still, the yarn was OK, the right thickness for the sari silk, and I liked the contrast of navy with red.

The pattern was just garter stitch on 7mm needles with regular rows of navy. I miscalculated the amount of yarn, so I ran out of sari silk before the throw was longer than the width. I could have used more of the navy yarn if I had realised, to make a bigger throw. I am happy with it anyway. It is lovely and slinky, so nice to the touch and the colours are a pleasure. I decided against adding the two new hanks in case the difference in texture would be noticeable.